Saturday, November 20, 2021

The Daily Bible Readings for Saturday, November 20, 2021

 

The Daily Bible Readings
Saturday, November 20, 2021
Psalm 132:1-12 [13-18]; 2 Kings 23:1-14; John 3:31-36
with commentaries from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

Introduction

In today’s lectionary readings, our psalm reminds us that somehow, someway, God will put a descendant of David on the throne forever. David pleads that he was the anointed of the Lord, and this he pleads as a type of Christ, the great Anointed. In our reading in Second Kings, after finding the book of Law by the high priest Hilkiah, King Josiah brought the elders and leaders of Jerusalem together to learn of the reformation he would implement nationwide. In our gospel reading, John weaves together a variety of images of earth and heaven. John talks about the person who is “earthly” and who speaks of “earthly things.” Then John writes that the One who comes from heaven reigns above all. Of course, John is writing about Jesus. Our verse of the day is almost invariably the pattern that united worship follows even in our day. It is proper that we should worship in this way, for even in the days of Israel, it was the pattern of worship under David.

Today’s Verse of the Day:
Psalm 95:1-2

Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
This psalm calls people to worship God by praising him and submitting to him, unlike the infamous generation that rebelled and failed to enter Canaan. The psalm opens with an invitation to worship exuberantly at the temple. The psalmist describes God as the Rock—an unchanging source of stability and protection for his people.

Today’s Lectionary Readings:
From the Psalter
Psalm 132:1-12 [13-18]
The Faithful Sing with Joy

1 Lord, remember David
     and all his self-denial.

2 He swore an oath to the Lord,
     he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 “I will not enter my house
     or go to my bed,
4 I will allow no sleep to my eyes
     or slumber to my eyelids,
5 till I find a place for the Lord,
     a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

6 We heard it in Ephrathah,
     we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:
7 “Let us go to his dwelling place,
     let us worship at his footstool, saying,
8 ‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place,
     you and the ark of your might.
9 May your priests be clothed with your righteousness;
     may your faithful people sing for joy.’”

10 For the sake of your servant David,
      do not reject your anointed one.

11 The Lord swore an oath to David,
      a sure oath he will not revoke:
   “One of your own descendants
      I will place on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
      and the statutes I teach them,
   then their sons will sit
      on your throne for ever and ever.”

[
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion,
       he has desired it for his dwelling, saying,
14 “This is my resting place for ever and ever;
      here I will sit enthroned, for I have desired it.
15 I will bless her with abundant provisions;
      her poor I will satisfy with food.
16 I will clothe her priests with salvation,
      and her faithful people will ever sing for joy.

17 “Here I will make a horn grow for David
      and set up a lamp for my anointed one.
18 I will clothe his enemies with shame,
      but his head will be adorned with a radiant crown.”]


Commentary

Verses 1-10: David bound himself to find a place for the Lord, for the ark, the token of God's presence. When work is to be done for the Lord, it is good to tie ourselves to a time. It is good in the morning to fix upon work for the day, with submission to Providence, for we know not what a day may bring forth. And we should first, and without delay, seek to have our own hearts made a habitation of God through the Spirit. He prays that God would take up his dwelling in the habitation he had built; that he would give grace to the ministers of the sanctuary to do their duty. David pleads that he was the anointed of the Lord, and this he pleads as a type of Christ, the great Anointed. We have no merit of our own to plead; but, for His sake, in whom there is a fullness of merit, let us find favor. And every true believer in Christ, is an anointed one, and has received from the Holy One the oil of true grace. The request is, that God would not turn away, but hear and answer their petitions for his Son's sake.

Verses 11-18: The Lord never turns from us when we plead the covenant with his anointed Prophet, Priest, and King. How vast is the love of God to man, that he should speak thus concerning his church! It is his desire to dwell with us; yet how little do we desire to dwell with him! He abode in Zion till the sins of Israel caused him to give them up to the spoilers. Forsake us not, O God, and deliver us not in like manner, sinful though we are. God's people have a special blessing on common enjoyments, and that blessing puts peculiar sweetness into them. Zion's poor have reason to be content with a little of this world, because they have better things prepared for them. God will abundantly bless the nourishment of the new man, and satisfy the poor in spirit with the bread of life. He gives more than we ask, and when he gives salvation, he will give abundant joy. God would bring to nothing every design formed to destroy the house of David, until King Messiah should arise out of it, to sit upon the throne of his Father. In him all the promises center. His enemies, who will not have him to reign over them, shall at the last day be clothed with shame and confusion for ever.


From the Historical Books
2 Kings 23:1-14
Josiah Follows God’s Law

23:1 Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. 3 The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.

4 The king ordered Hilkiah the high priest, the priests next in rank and the doorkeepers to remove from the temple of the Lord all the articles made for Baal and Asherah and all the starry hosts. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron Valley and took the ashes to Bethel. 5 He did away with the idolatrous priests appointed by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the towns of Judah and on those around Jerusalem—those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations and to all the starry hosts. 6 He took the Asherah pole from the temple of the Lord to the Kidron Valley outside Jerusalem and burned it there. He ground it to powder and scattered the dust over the graves of the common people. 7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.

8 Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the gateway at the entrance of the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which was on the left of the city gate. 9 Although the priests of the high places did not serve at the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

10 He desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice their son or daughter in the fire to Molek. 11 He removed from the entrance to the temple of the Lord the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were in the court near the room of an official named Nathan-Melek. Josiah then burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.

12 He pulled down the altars the kings of Judah had erected on the roof near the upper room of Ahaz, and the altars Manasseh had built in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. He removed them from there, smashed them to pieces and threw the rubble into the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption—the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the people of Ammon. 14 Josiah smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles and covered the sites with human bones.

Commentary

Verses 1-3: Josiah had received a message from God, that there was no preventing the ruin of Jerusalem, but that he should only deliver his own soul; yet he does his duty, and leaves the event to God. He engaged the people in the most solemn manner to abolish idolatry, and to serve God in righteousness and true holiness. Though most were formal or hypocritical herein, yet much outward wickedness would be prevented, and they were accountable to God for their own conduct.

Verses 4-14: What abundance of wickedness in Judah and Jerusalem! One would not have believed it possible, that in Judah, where God was known, in Israel, where his name was great, in Salem, in Zion, where his dwelling-place was, such abominations should be found. Josiah had reigned eighteen years, and had himself set the people a good example, and kept up religion according to the Divine law; yet, when he came to search for idolatry, the depth and extent were very great. Both common history, and the records of God's word, teach, that all the real godliness or goodness ever found on earth, is derived from the new-creating Spirit of Jesus Christ.


From the Gospels
John 3:31-36
The One who Comes from Above

3:31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. 34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

Commentary

John knew that Jesus came from heaven as the Son of God, while he was a sinful, mortal man, who could only speak about the more plain subjects of religion. The words of Jesus were the words of God; he had the Spirit, not by measure, as the prophets, but in all fullness. Everlasting life could only be had by faith in Him, and might be thus obtained; whereas all those, who believe not in the Son of God, cannot partake of salvation, but the wrath of God for ever rests upon them.


Today’s Lectionary Readings are selected from the Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, a three-year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year B. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2021, we will be in Year C. The year which ended at Advent 2020 was Year A. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org. The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Commentaries from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible.

The Morning Prayer for Saturday, November 20, 2021

 

The Morning Prayer
Saturday, November 20, 2021


Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, "Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good."
Jeremiah 16:19, NIV


Lord our God, we come to you burdened and driven by every kind of need and oppression, but you will bring light into every situation; in your great goodness and faithfulness you will continue to help. We come to you because you are our help. We want to draw strength from your Word so that we can remain steadfast in these times, awaiting your help and already finding joy and certainty in our expectation. For your kingdom is coming, and your will is being done on earth as in heaven. Amen.

Verse of the Day for Saturday, November 20, 2021

 

Verse of the Day
Saturday, November 20, 2021


Psalm 95:1-2
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
This psalm calls people to worship God by praising him and submitting to him, unlike the infamous generation that rebelled and failed to enter Canaan. The psalm opens with an invitation to worship exuberantly at the temple. The psalmist describes God as the Rock—an unchanging source of stability and protection for his people.

Read all of Psalm 95

Listen to Psalm 95


Scripture from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

Our Daily Bread — He Fills the Empty

 

He Fills the Empty

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

READ John 10:1–10

Psychologist Madeline Levine noticed the fifteen-year-old girl’s “cutter disguise”—a long sleeve T-shirt pulled halfway over her hand commonly used by people who engage in self-harm. When the young girl pulled back her sleeve, Levine was startled to find that the girl had used a razor to carve “empty” on her forearm. She was saddened, but also grateful the teen was open to receiving the serious help she desperately needed.

The teen in some way represents many people who’ve carved “empty” on their hearts. John wrote that Jesus came to fill the empty and to offer life “to the full” (John 10:10). God placed the desire for a full life in every human being, and He longs for people to experience a loving relationship with Him. But He also warned them that the “thief” would use people, things, and circumstances to attempt to ravage their lives (vv. 1, 10). The claims each made to give life would be counterfeit and an imitation. In contrast, Jesus offers what’s true—“eternal life” and the promise that “no one will snatch [us] out of [His] hand” (v. 28).

Only Jesus can fill the empty spaces in our hearts with life. If you’re feeling empty, call out to Him today. And if you’re experiencing serious struggles, seek out godly counsel. Christ alone provides life that’s abundant and full—life full of meaning found in Him.

By Marvin Williams

REFLECT & PRAY

In your search for significance and excitement, what kinds of things have left you disappointed? How has Jesus made your life full?

Jesus, as I consider the full and abundant life You’ve provided for me, please help me resist turning from You to things I think will satisfy me.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

One of the stylistic features of John’s gospel is the frequent use of the words very truly (see, for example, John 10:1, 7). In the King James Version, the words are translated “verily, verily” and in the English Standard Version, “truly, truly.” These words are a transliteration of the Hebrew word aw-mane, from which we get our English word amen. As demonstrated in Old and New Testament usage and our subsequent usage, the word speaks of things that are “firm,” “true,” “trustworthy,” and “faithful.” John is the only gospel where this “double amen” phrase (twenty-five times) comes from the lips of Jesus, the One with the title “the Amen” (Revelation 3:14). The words of the One who provides life “to the full” (John 10:10) are trustworthy indeed.

Arthur Jackson